NYSE:FSM Fortuna Silver Mines Q1 2024 Earnings Report $6.49 +0.03 (+0.46%) As of 02:11 PM Eastern Earnings HistoryForecast Fortuna Silver Mines EPS ResultsActual EPS$0.09Consensus EPS $0.03Beat/MissBeat by +$0.06One Year Ago EPSN/AFortuna Silver Mines Revenue ResultsActual Revenue$224.95 millionExpected RevenueN/ABeat/MissN/AYoY Revenue GrowthN/AFortuna Silver Mines Announcement DetailsQuarterQ1 2024Date5/7/2024TimeN/AConference Call DateWednesday, May 8, 2024Conference Call Time12:00PM ETUpcoming EarningsFortuna Silver Mines' Q1 2025 earnings is scheduled for Tuesday, May 6, 2025, with a conference call scheduled on Thursday, May 8, 2025 at 12:00 AM ET. Check back for transcripts, audio, and key financial metrics as they become available.Conference Call ResourcesConference Call AudioConference Call TranscriptSlide DeckInterim ReportEarnings HistoryCompany ProfileSlide DeckFull Screen Slide DeckPowered by Fortuna Silver Mines Q1 2024 Earnings Call TranscriptProvided by QuartrMay 8, 2024 ShareLink copied to clipboard.There are 9 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Please note, this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to your host, Mr. Carlos Vaca, Vice President of Investor Relations. Operator00:00:09Sir, you may begin. Speaker 100:00:10Thank you, Ali. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to welcome you to Fortuna Silver Mines' Q1 2024 Financial and Operational Results Conference Call. Hosting the call today on behalf of the company will be Jorge Alberto Anosa, President and Chief Executive Officer Brisdario Anosa, Chief Financial Officer Cesar Velasco, Chief Operating Officer, Latin America and David Whittle, Chief Operating Officer, West Africa. Today's earnings call presentation is available on our website. Speaker 100:00:43As a reminder, statements made during this call are subject to the reader release included in yesterday's news release, the earnings call presentation, MD and A and the risk factors in our annual information form. Financial figures contained in the presentation and discussed in today's call are presented in U. S. Dollars unless otherwise stated. Technical information in the presentation has been reviewed and approved by Eric Chapman, Fortuna's Senior Vice President of Technical Services and qualified person. Speaker 100:01:14I would now like to turn the call over to Jorge Alberto Anosa, President, Chief Executive Officer and Co Founder of Fortuna. Speaker 200:01:25Good morning to all. We continue to report strong operational and financial performance and according to our plans and guidance, expect an even stronger second half of the year for production and costs. Of our BRL225,000,000 in sales, gold contributed 81% and silver 10%, with the balance being by products, zinc and lead. We realized an average gold price in the quarter of $2,087 per ounce compared to 19.90 dollars in the Q4 of 2023. Silver stayed flat at $23 quarter over quarter. Speaker 200:02:07Our attributable net income and adjusted net income for the quarter were both $26,000,000 or $0.09 per share. Cash flow from operations before changes in working capital was $84,000,000 or $0.28 per share. Both earnings and cash flow were well ahead of analyst consensus figures of $0.06 and $0.25 per share, respectively. All our mines delivered gold and silver production in line with our plans and within guidance range projections for the year. At 112,000 gold equivalent ounces, production was softer and Speaker 300:02:53136 Speaker 200:02:581,000 gold equivalent ounces in Q3 and Q4 of 2023, respectively. The reduction against previous quarters is largely explained by lower grades and ounces produced at Seguela, but well according to plan. Quarterly production during 2024 is planned to pick up throughout the year with Q1 having the lowest planned production. All our mines reported consistent AISC tracking well to be within our annual guidance range. Consolidated cash cost per gold equivalent ounce was $8.79 And if we adjust for San Jose mine, which is mining on its last year of reserves, the cash cost is a low $7.44 per ounce. Speaker 200:03:49Consolidated AISC at $14.95 per gold equivalent an ounce is on the very low end of our guidance range for the year, which is between $14.85 Speaker 300:04:04$16.40 Speaker 200:04:07and slightly lower than the $1509 we reported in Q4 2023. The low AISC is largely explained by Seguela higher gold production and lower cost per tonne against our budgets and timing of capital expenses at the Lindero mine leach pad expansion. The largest short term opportunity in the portfolio today is the throughput optimization at the Seguela mine, which continues to render fruit. After relining of the mill and other minor works in April, the plant is expected to reach a process rate of 220 dry metric tons per hour or 42% above nameplate capacity and 25% above our 2024 budget. Looking forward, there is an emerging situation in April. Speaker 200:05:06In Cote d'Ivoire, technical failures at 2 gas plants sourcing power into the national grid has resulted in outages at national level. It is expected power will be restored at normal levels in July. With the information available at this moment, we believe guidance for the year at Seguela is still achievable with no corresponding impact on consolidated guidance. With respect to capital allocation, management continued during the quarter to focus on 3 priorities. 1, provide maximum flexibility to our balance sheet. Speaker 200:05:42During the period, we paid an additional $40,000,000 on our revolving grade facility, totaling $123,000,000 since we started repayment in the Q3 of 2023. We brought net debt down to $83,000,000 and our total net debt to EBITDA ratio stands at a low 0.2 to 1. Our liquidity position stands at €212,000,000 Speaker 400:06:09at the Speaker 200:06:09end of the quarter, essentially flat with respect to the previous quarter. 2nd is opportunistic return to shareholders. Management reinitiated its normal course issuer bid program in the quarter with the repurchase of 1,000,000 shares for cancellation at an average price of $3.42 in the New York Stock Exchange. The normal course issuer bid has been renewed in April for an additional year for up to 5% of the issued and outstanding shares of the company. And third, funding organic growth opportunities in our portfolio. Speaker 200:06:47Our priority exploration programs at Seguela, Tiamba Soup, San Jose and and Yaramoko continue to yield positive results. At the Seguela mine in Cordoba, the exploration team is planning to have new resources this year at the deposits of Bavior, Castro, Gabriel North and Kingfisher. Of note is a newly discovered Kingfisher deposit where drilling continues to return consistent results over the 2 kilometer strike length of the identified mineralization. A 4th drill rig has now been mobilized to Seguela to further capitalize on these opportunities as well as examining the underground potential at deposits where we currently hold reserves in Cula and Siena and Sandberg. At Yaramoko in Burkina Faso, we continue to make marginal gains of high grade mineralization at the immediate boundaries of resources on Zone 55. Speaker 200:07:44These gains are potentially helping to reduce the rate of depletion in the life of mine by providing opportunity to sustain 2025 at above 100,000 ounces of gold production. At San Jose in Mexico, we continue advancing the Yesibane exploration with 3 dedicated drill rigs and planning to add a 4th one in May. Results to date have defined potential economic mineralization within a 350 by 450 meter area, which remains open to the Southeast. Step out drilling holes are being prioritized currently. For the Q2, management is planning to drive a 150 meter drift to reach the core of the identified higher grade zone. Speaker 200:08:30And at the Ambasur in Senegal, exploration and geotechnical drilling continues to advance according to plan along with environmental studies. Hydrologic drilling is set to begin in the Q2. And last but not least, we had a difficult start of the year on safety indicators where total recordable lost time and lost time injury rates have been impacted by 4 lost time accidents in the quarter. We have now been operating for 50 days without any recordable accidents and are doubling down on active leadership and multiple other initiatives that Cesar and David will touch on with the objective of still achieving a 3rd year of continued improvement on key safety metrics. I'll now ask David to provide an update on West African operations. Speaker 200:09:25David? Speaker 500:09:28Thanks, Jorge, and good morning, everyone. Seguela and Yaramoko had a successful first quarter with regard production. And Siguela, we unfortunately reported 1 LTI, whilst Yaramoko continued its good safety performance with no LTI is reported. In the Q1, both Seguela and Yaramoko outperformed the mine plan, producing 34,556 and 27,177 ounces of gold, respectively. At Seguela, production was 20% lower compared to the Q4 of 2023, as the average head grade for the period became more Speaker 400:10:10reflective of the life of mine grade. Speaker 100:10:10In the quarter, Speaker 500:10:19at and an average gold grade of 2.23 grams per ton and 2,540,000 tons of waste with strip ratio of 6:1. The processing plant treated 395,000 tons at an average gold grade of 2.79 grams per tonne. Whilst mining operations were centered on the Antenna pit, 700,018,000 tons of waste stripping was conducted at the Ansi and Ankula pits respectively. Processing plant operations continued to progress beyond the nameplate capacity of 154 tons an hour, achieving an average of 195 tons per hour. Gold recovery for the quarter was 94.4%, in line with design. Speaker 500:11:11The second lift in the Tayrene storage facility was successfully completed in April, benefiting the operation with an additional 2 years of tailing storage at the enhanced throughput rates. Seguela's strong performance resulted in a cash cost of $4.59 and an ASIC of $9.48 per ounce of gold. At Yaramoko, mine production in the Q1 was 124,000 tons at an average gold grade of 8.3 grams per tonne, with ore primarily sourced from the 55 Zone underground mine. Development and stope in operations of the Legacy South mine improved, continuing contributing 16,000 tons at an average gold grade of 6.16 grams per tonne. At the processing plant, 108,000 tons of ore were treated at an average gold grade of 8.79 grams per tonne with recovery at 98.2%. Speaker 500:12:16The lower processing tonnes are attributed to a planned plant maintenance shutdown for the 1st 2 weeks of January 24. The Yaramoko steady production resulted in a cash cost of $7.52 and an ASIC of $13.73 per ounce of gold. Development of the main decline, another major capital development of the 55 Zone Mine was completed during the quarter. Waste development now is limited to the strike footwall drives, whilst the whole development continues to intersect wider areas and encounters better grades than planned, as well as further extending the mining boundaries to the east and the west of the ore body along strike. Back to Operator00:13:12you, Jorge. Speaker 200:13:16Thank you, David. Cesar, please? Speaker 300:13:20Thank you, Jorge. So starting in Argentina, Lindero's gold production in the quarter was 23,262 ounces. This is a 21% decrease compared to the 4th quarter of 2023 due to the lower head grade of ore placed on the leach pad and a reduction in the gold rich carbon inventory. However, gold production remains aligned with the mine plan and mineral reserves estimates for the year. During the quarter, 2,000,000 tons of ore were mined at a strip ratio of 0.54 to 1. Speaker 300:14:01A total of 1,550,000 tons of forward placed on the leach pad at an average gold grade of 0.60 grams per ton, containing an estimated 29,270 ounces. The operation experienced lower mechanical loader availability, which mainly impacted the waste mining plan for the period. The mine plan has been adjusted to reflect enhanced waste mining during the next quarters and remains in alignment with the mine plan for the year. As of April 30, 2024, the leach pad expansion project is approximately 44% complete with air works and construction of the impulsion line at 33%, respectively. Procurement is 95% complete. Speaker 300:14:59Complementing current works, liner installation also commenced in April. The project is advancing on schedule, with operations expected to begin ore placement by the end of 2024. Lindero had a cash cost of $1,008 and an AISC of $16.34 per ounce of gold for the quarter. The costs reflect timing of sales as 1700 ounces of gold remained in inventory at the end of the period. In addition to timing of sales, the operation experienced higher cost for rental equipment and intensive CapEx execution related to the leach pad expansion project. Speaker 300:15:45On a general note, in country macroeconomic conditions have improved from what we saw in 2023 and have allowed Lindero to operate more efficiently as a result. In Mexico, at San Jose, unfortunately, we reported 2 LTIs during the quarter. Both incidents were related to employees working at Hyatt. We continue to proactively reinforce our leadership initiatives to improve safety performance throughout all of our operations. San Jose produced 759,111 ounces of silver at an average head grade of 147 grams per ton and 4,533 ounces of gold at an average head grade of 0.90 grams per ton of gold. Speaker 300:16:39The processing plant milled 181,103 tons of ore at an average throughput of 2,182 tons per day, in line with the plan for the period. The mine has less operational flexibility in 2024 when compared to 2023 due to the reduced and more dispersed mineral reserves in the Trinidad deposit. Production stopes in the upper levels contained lower head grades and a higher presence of ferrous oxide, which impacted recoveries by approximately 2% in the quarter. San Jose had a cash cost of $21.98 and an ASIC of 24.2 4 per silver equivalent ounce for the quarter. The increase is explained by the lower head grades, lower production and as 50% of our costs are peso denominated, also a stronger Mexican peso impact. Speaker 300:17:48The company continues preparations to execute a multiyear progressive mine closure and monetary plan, while conducting regular assessments on trade offs between maintaining operations and a care and maintenance option. As Jorge mentioned before, exploration work continues to advance in the Ghese vein. In Peru, the Caylloma mine produced 315,460 ounces of silver at an average head rate of 87 grams per tonne. Zinc and lead production was £12,200,000 £9,500,000 respectively. Metal production is in line with the mineral reserves estimates and production for the period. Speaker 300:18:33Underground development for the quarter was mainly focused on the lower levels of the Animas vein. Cash cost per silver equivalent for the quarter was $11.61 driven primarily by lower treatment and refining charges. The all in sustaining cash cost per ounce payable silver equivalent was $17.18 Speaker 200:18:56Back to you, Jorge. Yes, sir. Luis will now provide a review of the financial results. Thank you. So we have recorded net attributable income to Fortuna shareholders for the period of $26,500,000 or $0.09 per share compared to $10,900,000 and $0.04 per share in Q1 of 2023. Speaker 200:19:24Main driver for this 143% increase in net income was our contribution from the Seguela mine, which had its 1st full quarter of operations in Q3 of 2023. Seguela, as has been stressed, contributes low cost ounces, which helped lower consolidated cost per gold equivalent ounce sold from $9.16 in the prior period to $8.79 in Q1 of 2024. A few comments on the income statement. Depreciation in the quarter was $50,000,000 which includes close to $60,000,000 in depletion of the purchase price related to the acquisition of Roxul in 2021. On general and administration expenses, we recorded $18,200,000 And as shown in the breakdown, we provide line item in our MD and A. Speaker 200:20:25This was comprised of $7,500,000 of in country G and A at our mining operations, dollars 8,400,000 of corporate G and A and $2,200,000 of share based compensation. Our total general and administration expenses were $3,300,000 above the comparative period due to the added G and A from the Seguela mine and higher corporate G and A related to timing of expenses. On foreign exchange, we recorded a loss of $4,100,000 which is primarily related to cash balances held in West Africa in the context of 2.2 percent devaluation of the euro versus the U. S. Dollar and costs of foreign exchange trades associated to repatriations of funds from West Africa. Speaker 200:21:22On interest and finance costs, we recorded $6,200,000 in the quarter, of which $4,800,000 is interest expense, the balance being accretion of right of use liabilities and asset retirement obligations. The increase of $3,600,000 over 2023 is explained by $2,800,000,000 of interest capitalized in Q1 of the prior year as part of the Seguela construction and higher accretion charges related to Seguela in the current quarter. Moving on to our cash flow statement. Our net cash provided by operating activities was $48,900,000 after $35,300,000 of negative changes in working capital. A significant portion of this was related to timing of accounts payable. Speaker 200:22:21I do want to note, we have been experiencing challenges in the collection of VAT at our operations in Burkina Faso and anticipate this might continue to be a challenge moving forward. In the investing section of our cash flow statement, we recorded $41,300,000 under additions to property, plant and equipment, which includes $4,200,000 spent at the Diambasas project in Senegal. Over the next two quarters, we expect higher capital expenditure levels, mostly due to the progression of the leach pad expansion at Lindero. As a remainder as a reminder, sorry, 2024 is a heavy CapEx year at Lindero with a total budget including capitalized stripping of $64,000,000 comprising around 50% of our consolidated capital expenditure budget for 2024, excluding exploration activities. And moving on to the balance sheet. Speaker 200:23:27As Jorge has mentioned, we have been paying down debt aggressively with $40,000,000 paid in the quarter and $123,000,000 paid since the 1st full quarter of production at Siguela in Q3 of 2023. Thank you, and back to you, Hor. Operator, we can open the floor for questions. Operator00:23:57Thank you, sir. At this time, we will be conducting our question and answer Thank you. Our first question is coming from Adrienne Day with Adrian Day Asset Management. Your line is live. Speaker 400:24:37Yes, good afternoon everybody. I wanted to ask about San Jose, the closure. You're scheduled to close at the end of the year, but obviously you're spending money and having success at YETI. What will it require what is required for you to extend mining operations there? And when will a decision be made? Speaker 200:25:02Adrian, we will have a better idea of how the situation at San Jose will evolve. There are potentially different scenarios we are looking at right now. So one is, of course, based on exploration success, we can continue mining. It's not just exploration success, but also resources that could not get converted in late 2023 benefiting from higher prices as we reassess our mine plans, right? So there is one scenario where we just continue mining. Speaker 200:25:55There is a second scenario where we decide to play the mine on care and maintenance, while we continue with exploration at Yesi. And the last one is we exhaust reserves 2023 and make the decision to just go into sorry, in 2024 and roll into a progressive closure plan, right? The San Jose mine has a small footprint. We are currently updating our mine closure plans. And but we really will have a better idea of which of these three avenues or three options we have will take. Speaker 200:26:46And we need a bit more time. And we are you always have to be hopeful in this business, and we remain hopeful that YESE will provide opportunities, but that still needs to be proven. Yesi has been an exciting discovery at the San Jose mine, but it needs to graduate from an exciting discovery to an exciting resource reserve we can plug into mine plants, and we're not there yet. That's why we continue drilling aggressively. And discussed in the call, management is planning to extend a drift to the core of a high grade area to get closer to mineralization and a better handle on mineralization as well. Speaker 300:27:37Okay. Thank you. Thank you. That's helpful. Operator00:27:42Thank you. Our next question is coming from Don DeMarco with National Bank Financial. Your line is live. Speaker 600:27:52Thank you, operator. Good morning, Jorge and team. Maybe just continuing on the last caller's question, Jorge. I saw that there was a response filed in appeals court in February with the decision expected in 12 months. Could you add more color to this? Speaker 600:28:09And could this factor into any decision to extend the mine life at San Jose? Speaker 200:28:24With respect to the court ruling, as you know, we had a favorable court ruling on the first instance on the administrative court in Mexico that was appealed. We expect the appeal to be resolved by year end, late 2024, we feel even more stronger or stronger on our legal position based on the ruling that basically discarded all the nonsensical arguments that were presented in front of us. And we are right now not positive that we'll get this appeal will not progress, and that is the last recourse that Semarnad has against our permit right now. We are also cognizant that there is a government change coming in June. There are elections, and we are in dialogue with the 2 leading candidates and are hopeful that the investment climate in Mexico for mining will improve as an outcome of this coming election. Speaker 600:30:04Okay. Fair enough. And face value, you've got good drill results at Yassy. You've got a higher gold price. So both of those higher silver price, so both of those seem to be in your favor. Speaker 600:30:18If you do make a decision to go ahead, would it be kind of, oh, we'll extend it 1 more quarter at a time type thing? Or would you think, oh, we might extend it an entire year? I mean, what is your preliminary thoughts at this point on a potential extension? Speaker 200:30:33You see, I'll tell you how we're viewing this. As I said previously, yes, it has been an exciting discovery because it has very high grades or substantial width for mechanized mining. So but we still need to learn and define the type of volumes and tonnages that we have available there. Today, we have defined mineralization over a panel area that stretches for 3 50 meters by 4 50 meters. This is a mine that can take as much as 1,000,000 tons of ore Speaker 100:31:18a year. Speaker 200:31:21And at Yesi, doing napkin the work in the napkin, you currently probably are getting closer to EUR 500,000, right? So that's why it's relevant to step out. It's taken us a while to understand Jesi because it has a strike that's different to what we are used to at the San Jose mine. The strike of this vein is odd with respect to what we've been mining here for over a decade. So it took us a while to figure that one out. Speaker 200:32:02And now we're drilling for volume. And that's why I say that it's going to be probably into the Q3 when we have a better handle on how big this is and how meaningful it can be to 9 plants. Again, one thing is an exciting story and another one is a resource that you can build meaningfully into a mine But right now, we do not have something that can go meaningfully into a mine plan. We're working for that. Speaker 600:32:33Okay. Sounds good. So we'll look forward to that update maybe in Q3. Across the rest of your portfolio, we see in Cote D'ivoire, there's been some shortage of electricity due to the national grid out of your control. But is this you're looking at different options to work around this. Speaker 600:32:54Does this pose any risk to guidance or Q2 or Q3? Speaker 200:33:00Basically on the information we have at this time, our guidance is intact, right? So we are benefiting from having a mill that can do up to 25% higher throughput than what we budgeted for 2024. We're benefiting from the fact that, as David stated, the West African region in the first quarter has produced almost 7,000 ounces ahead of budget. And the problem that is the portion of the problem that is out of our control appears to be improving. 1 of the power generators that came out of line is back online. Speaker 200:33:59This was a freak situation where 2 unrelated power plants came out of line power generators came out of line at the same time. We are seeing one already back in line and the other one is expected to be back in July. So we right now do not see an impact to our 2nd quarter production. And but it's a situation that we monitor closely. Speaker 600:34:36Okay. And what was behind this electricity shortage? These two incidents that you speak of at the private power generation plants? And is there any read through here about the stability of power in Cote D'ivoire once these are fixed? Speaker 200:34:54We did a thorough assessment of the power availability, stability of the grid when making the construction decision for Seguela. And the assessment was that there was ample power generation capacity and the grid was stable. And then this accident happens, right? So we are sourcing a longer term solution for us, which is full backup for the entire operation. We expect we can have Speaker 500:35:30that those Speaker 200:35:33power generators, diesel generators on-site by July. So even if this problem drags on with the National Grid, we should be autonomous by July. So that's why we say that and that we can control. So we're bringing the problem into our hands rather than relying on something that's out of our control. Speaker 600:36:04Okay. Thanks for all that. Congratulations on again, strong start to the year and good luck with Q2. It's all for me. Speaker 200:36:10Thank you, Don. Thanks. Operator00:36:15Thank you. Our next question is coming from Eric Windmill with Scotiabank. Your line is live. Speaker 700:36:24Great. Thank you. Hi, Jorge and team. I appreciate you taking my question. On Argentina, we're actually seeing some positive headlines there after the election. Speaker 700:36:33Any comments about what you're seeing on the ground? And does this change your view in terms of deploying more CapEx within Argentina? Thanks. Speaker 200:36:44I think as Cesar pointed out, we're seeing positive signs all across. But I think there are 2 important things that we look at here, Eric, that I think the positive signs we're seeing are building up to 1, liberating exchange controls, FX controls. I think what we're seeing is a lot of positive steps from these governments towards that. And the second one that relates to this is country risk, right? Having lenders looking at Argentina as a place to where they will take collateral, right? Speaker 200:37:36They'll lend money to Argentina and Argentinian capital projects. We're seeing a lot of positive messages followed by positive actions. Country risk has come down from 2,400 points to around 1200. To give you a sense, the average for Latin America on country risk is around 400, right? So there's still a long way to go in terms of country risk perception. Speaker 200:38:08But it's trending in the right direction. We are hearing the right messages from government followed by the right actions. But with respect to our view on investment on new large capital projects, greenfields projects. I think we're still in a watch and see mode, yes. Speaker 700:38:34All right. Thank you. Appreciate that. That's helpful. Maybe just one more for me on the financial side. Speaker 700:38:40Obviously, you did see some working capital payments in the quarter. Any sort of view here in terms of an optimal level? Should we expect additional working capital payments throughout the balance of this year? Speaker 200:38:55Capital payments, you mean debt? Yes. I mean, we intend to continue using liquidity over the next few quarters to pay down bank debt. The pace at which we do it will be Speaker 300:39:15a function Speaker 200:39:15of what we decide to do with the convertible, which is due around October of this year and any other competing uses of cash. But overall, the pace we've seen so far is what we expect to maintain over the next few quarters. Speaker 700:39:39Okay, great. That's helpful. Appreciate that. I'll hop back in the queue. Cheers. Speaker 200:39:45Thank you. Thank you. Operator00:39:49Thank you. We have a question on the line from Tony Christ with Odyssey Investments. Your line is live. Speaker 800:40:11Thank you. Thank you for taking my question. I want to congratulate you, first of all, your team, for a great quarter. And we're looking forward to the future. I wanted to know any color you could give additional comments on your African mine and what your hopes are over the next year, realistic hopes for the mine? Speaker 800:40:41Is it at a level now that should be consistent this year? Are there chances it could increase? Any comment, any more color you could give on it? Thank you so much. And again, congratulations. Speaker 200:40:57Thank you, sir. With respect to our African operations, I can stress that we see short term opportunities at Seguela. As stated during the call, we are in a position to run or mill and mine at approximately 25% above the throughput rate that we budgeted in 2024. And that is an outcome of the good work done by the site team on debottlenecking and squeezing the lemon, if you will, on the facility and are equating mine plants to source for that rate. So that is low hanging fruit that we can capture throughout the year. Speaker 200:41:59Now a bit more longer term, we continue enjoying exploration success at Reguela. I cannot stress that enough as we are able to not only replace what we deplete but expand beyond that, we can also consider opportunities for further expansions. And at Yaramoko, in Burkina Faso, the team the mine is operating at a steady rate, but the team continues to capture opportunities on expansion of the resources. And as I said during the call, we continue to see opportunities on the fringes of the deposit on Zone 55 on the deeper portion of the mine. And as we extend our underground infrastructure or drift at the deep end of Zone 55. Speaker 200:42:59We continue to finding structure with grade, which leads us to think that we have an opportunity to continue ameliorating the rate of depletion at the mine and supporting the loan, right? So those are the big ones. And of course, the Ambasud in Senegal, which is a big lever for medium, long term growth in the company. We are exploring there. We have close to a 50,000 meter drill program budgeted that we are well advanced. Speaker 200:43:37We're advancing with engineering studies, environmental studies in parallel to the exploration. And if successful with the program this year, we believe we are in a position PEA also by year end, an updated preliminary economic assessment on the project by year end. Speaker 800:44:01Very good. Thank you. Continue the good work. Thank you. Speaker 200:44:06Thank you, sir. Operator00:44:10Thank you. As we have no further questions in queue at this time, I would like to hand it back to Mr. Carlos Baca for closing remarks. Speaker 100:44:20Thank you, Ali. If there are no further questions, I would like to thank everyone for listening to today's earnings call. Have a great day. Operator00:44:30Thank you. This concludes today's conference call, and you may disconnect your lines at this time. We thank you for your participation. Speaker 500:44:40Thank you, everyone.Read moreRemove AdsPowered by Conference Call Audio Live Call not available Earnings Conference CallFortuna Silver Mines Q1 202400:00 / 00:00Speed:1x1.25x1.5x2xRemove Ads Earnings DocumentsSlide DeckInterim report Fortuna Silver Mines Earnings HeadlinesFortuna Silver Mines (NYSE:FSM) Price Target Raised to $7.00 at ScotiabankApril 15 at 3:35 AM | americanbankingnews.comFortuna Mining price target raised to $7 from $6 at ScotiabankApril 14 at 10:22 PM | markets.businessinsider.comThe Crypto Market is About to Change LivesI've discovered something so significant about the 2025 crypto market that I had to put everything else aside and write a book about it. This isn't just another Bitcoin prediction – it's a complete roadmap for what I believe will be the biggest wealth-building opportunity of this decade. The evidence is so compelling, I'm doing something that probably seems insane: I'm giving away my entire book for free. April 16, 2025 | Crypto 101 Media (Ad)Fortuna completes sale of non-core San Jose Mine, MexicoApril 14 at 5:00 AM | globenewswire.comFortuna Mining to sell Yaramoko mine, Burkina Faso assets in $130M dealApril 11, 2025 | msn.comFortuna announces sale of Yaramoko Mine, Burkina FasoApril 11, 2025 | globenewswire.comSee More Fortuna Silver Mines Headlines Get Earnings Announcements in your inboxWant to stay updated on the latest earnings announcements and upcoming reports for companies like Fortuna Silver Mines? Sign up for Earnings360's daily newsletter to receive timely earnings updates on Fortuna Silver Mines and other key companies, straight to your email. Email Address About Fortuna Silver MinesFortuna Mining Corp. engages in the precious and base metal mining in Argentina, Burkina Faso, Mexico, Peru, and Côte d'Ivoire. It operates through Mansfield, Sanu, Sango, Cuzcatlan, Bateas, and Corporate segments. The company primarily explores for silver, lead, zinc, and gold. Its flagship project is the Séguéla gold mine, which consists of approximately 62,000 hectares and is located in the Worodougou Region of the Woroba District, Côte d'Ivoire. The company was formerly known as Fortuna Silver Mines (NYSE:FSM) and changed its name to Fortuna Mining Corp. in June 2024. Fortuna Mining Corp. was incorporated in 1990 and is based in Vancouver, Canada.View Fortuna Silver Mines ProfileRead more More Earnings Resources from MarketBeat Earnings Tools Today's Earnings Tomorrow's Earnings Next Week's Earnings Upcoming Earnings Calls Earnings Newsletter Earnings Call Transcripts Earnings Beats & Misses Corporate Guidance Earnings Screener Earnings By Country U.S. Earnings Reports Canadian Earnings Reports U.K. Earnings Reports Latest Articles Tesla Stock Eyes Breakout With Earnings on DeckJohnson & Johnson Earnings Were More Good Than Bad—Time to Buy? 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There are 9 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Please note, this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to your host, Mr. Carlos Vaca, Vice President of Investor Relations. Operator00:00:09Sir, you may begin. Speaker 100:00:10Thank you, Ali. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to welcome you to Fortuna Silver Mines' Q1 2024 Financial and Operational Results Conference Call. Hosting the call today on behalf of the company will be Jorge Alberto Anosa, President and Chief Executive Officer Brisdario Anosa, Chief Financial Officer Cesar Velasco, Chief Operating Officer, Latin America and David Whittle, Chief Operating Officer, West Africa. Today's earnings call presentation is available on our website. Speaker 100:00:43As a reminder, statements made during this call are subject to the reader release included in yesterday's news release, the earnings call presentation, MD and A and the risk factors in our annual information form. Financial figures contained in the presentation and discussed in today's call are presented in U. S. Dollars unless otherwise stated. Technical information in the presentation has been reviewed and approved by Eric Chapman, Fortuna's Senior Vice President of Technical Services and qualified person. Speaker 100:01:14I would now like to turn the call over to Jorge Alberto Anosa, President, Chief Executive Officer and Co Founder of Fortuna. Speaker 200:01:25Good morning to all. We continue to report strong operational and financial performance and according to our plans and guidance, expect an even stronger second half of the year for production and costs. Of our BRL225,000,000 in sales, gold contributed 81% and silver 10%, with the balance being by products, zinc and lead. We realized an average gold price in the quarter of $2,087 per ounce compared to 19.90 dollars in the Q4 of 2023. Silver stayed flat at $23 quarter over quarter. Speaker 200:02:07Our attributable net income and adjusted net income for the quarter were both $26,000,000 or $0.09 per share. Cash flow from operations before changes in working capital was $84,000,000 or $0.28 per share. Both earnings and cash flow were well ahead of analyst consensus figures of $0.06 and $0.25 per share, respectively. All our mines delivered gold and silver production in line with our plans and within guidance range projections for the year. At 112,000 gold equivalent ounces, production was softer and Speaker 300:02:53136 Speaker 200:02:581,000 gold equivalent ounces in Q3 and Q4 of 2023, respectively. The reduction against previous quarters is largely explained by lower grades and ounces produced at Seguela, but well according to plan. Quarterly production during 2024 is planned to pick up throughout the year with Q1 having the lowest planned production. All our mines reported consistent AISC tracking well to be within our annual guidance range. Consolidated cash cost per gold equivalent ounce was $8.79 And if we adjust for San Jose mine, which is mining on its last year of reserves, the cash cost is a low $7.44 per ounce. Speaker 200:03:49Consolidated AISC at $14.95 per gold equivalent an ounce is on the very low end of our guidance range for the year, which is between $14.85 Speaker 300:04:04$16.40 Speaker 200:04:07and slightly lower than the $1509 we reported in Q4 2023. The low AISC is largely explained by Seguela higher gold production and lower cost per tonne against our budgets and timing of capital expenses at the Lindero mine leach pad expansion. The largest short term opportunity in the portfolio today is the throughput optimization at the Seguela mine, which continues to render fruit. After relining of the mill and other minor works in April, the plant is expected to reach a process rate of 220 dry metric tons per hour or 42% above nameplate capacity and 25% above our 2024 budget. Looking forward, there is an emerging situation in April. Speaker 200:05:06In Cote d'Ivoire, technical failures at 2 gas plants sourcing power into the national grid has resulted in outages at national level. It is expected power will be restored at normal levels in July. With the information available at this moment, we believe guidance for the year at Seguela is still achievable with no corresponding impact on consolidated guidance. With respect to capital allocation, management continued during the quarter to focus on 3 priorities. 1, provide maximum flexibility to our balance sheet. Speaker 200:05:42During the period, we paid an additional $40,000,000 on our revolving grade facility, totaling $123,000,000 since we started repayment in the Q3 of 2023. We brought net debt down to $83,000,000 and our total net debt to EBITDA ratio stands at a low 0.2 to 1. Our liquidity position stands at €212,000,000 Speaker 400:06:09at the Speaker 200:06:09end of the quarter, essentially flat with respect to the previous quarter. 2nd is opportunistic return to shareholders. Management reinitiated its normal course issuer bid program in the quarter with the repurchase of 1,000,000 shares for cancellation at an average price of $3.42 in the New York Stock Exchange. The normal course issuer bid has been renewed in April for an additional year for up to 5% of the issued and outstanding shares of the company. And third, funding organic growth opportunities in our portfolio. Speaker 200:06:47Our priority exploration programs at Seguela, Tiamba Soup, San Jose and and Yaramoko continue to yield positive results. At the Seguela mine in Cordoba, the exploration team is planning to have new resources this year at the deposits of Bavior, Castro, Gabriel North and Kingfisher. Of note is a newly discovered Kingfisher deposit where drilling continues to return consistent results over the 2 kilometer strike length of the identified mineralization. A 4th drill rig has now been mobilized to Seguela to further capitalize on these opportunities as well as examining the underground potential at deposits where we currently hold reserves in Cula and Siena and Sandberg. At Yaramoko in Burkina Faso, we continue to make marginal gains of high grade mineralization at the immediate boundaries of resources on Zone 55. Speaker 200:07:44These gains are potentially helping to reduce the rate of depletion in the life of mine by providing opportunity to sustain 2025 at above 100,000 ounces of gold production. At San Jose in Mexico, we continue advancing the Yesibane exploration with 3 dedicated drill rigs and planning to add a 4th one in May. Results to date have defined potential economic mineralization within a 350 by 450 meter area, which remains open to the Southeast. Step out drilling holes are being prioritized currently. For the Q2, management is planning to drive a 150 meter drift to reach the core of the identified higher grade zone. Speaker 200:08:30And at the Ambasur in Senegal, exploration and geotechnical drilling continues to advance according to plan along with environmental studies. Hydrologic drilling is set to begin in the Q2. And last but not least, we had a difficult start of the year on safety indicators where total recordable lost time and lost time injury rates have been impacted by 4 lost time accidents in the quarter. We have now been operating for 50 days without any recordable accidents and are doubling down on active leadership and multiple other initiatives that Cesar and David will touch on with the objective of still achieving a 3rd year of continued improvement on key safety metrics. I'll now ask David to provide an update on West African operations. Speaker 200:09:25David? Speaker 500:09:28Thanks, Jorge, and good morning, everyone. Seguela and Yaramoko had a successful first quarter with regard production. And Siguela, we unfortunately reported 1 LTI, whilst Yaramoko continued its good safety performance with no LTI is reported. In the Q1, both Seguela and Yaramoko outperformed the mine plan, producing 34,556 and 27,177 ounces of gold, respectively. At Seguela, production was 20% lower compared to the Q4 of 2023, as the average head grade for the period became more Speaker 400:10:10reflective of the life of mine grade. Speaker 100:10:10In the quarter, Speaker 500:10:19at and an average gold grade of 2.23 grams per ton and 2,540,000 tons of waste with strip ratio of 6:1. The processing plant treated 395,000 tons at an average gold grade of 2.79 grams per tonne. Whilst mining operations were centered on the Antenna pit, 700,018,000 tons of waste stripping was conducted at the Ansi and Ankula pits respectively. Processing plant operations continued to progress beyond the nameplate capacity of 154 tons an hour, achieving an average of 195 tons per hour. Gold recovery for the quarter was 94.4%, in line with design. Speaker 500:11:11The second lift in the Tayrene storage facility was successfully completed in April, benefiting the operation with an additional 2 years of tailing storage at the enhanced throughput rates. Seguela's strong performance resulted in a cash cost of $4.59 and an ASIC of $9.48 per ounce of gold. At Yaramoko, mine production in the Q1 was 124,000 tons at an average gold grade of 8.3 grams per tonne, with ore primarily sourced from the 55 Zone underground mine. Development and stope in operations of the Legacy South mine improved, continuing contributing 16,000 tons at an average gold grade of 6.16 grams per tonne. At the processing plant, 108,000 tons of ore were treated at an average gold grade of 8.79 grams per tonne with recovery at 98.2%. Speaker 500:12:16The lower processing tonnes are attributed to a planned plant maintenance shutdown for the 1st 2 weeks of January 24. The Yaramoko steady production resulted in a cash cost of $7.52 and an ASIC of $13.73 per ounce of gold. Development of the main decline, another major capital development of the 55 Zone Mine was completed during the quarter. Waste development now is limited to the strike footwall drives, whilst the whole development continues to intersect wider areas and encounters better grades than planned, as well as further extending the mining boundaries to the east and the west of the ore body along strike. Back to Operator00:13:12you, Jorge. Speaker 200:13:16Thank you, David. Cesar, please? Speaker 300:13:20Thank you, Jorge. So starting in Argentina, Lindero's gold production in the quarter was 23,262 ounces. This is a 21% decrease compared to the 4th quarter of 2023 due to the lower head grade of ore placed on the leach pad and a reduction in the gold rich carbon inventory. However, gold production remains aligned with the mine plan and mineral reserves estimates for the year. During the quarter, 2,000,000 tons of ore were mined at a strip ratio of 0.54 to 1. Speaker 300:14:01A total of 1,550,000 tons of forward placed on the leach pad at an average gold grade of 0.60 grams per ton, containing an estimated 29,270 ounces. The operation experienced lower mechanical loader availability, which mainly impacted the waste mining plan for the period. The mine plan has been adjusted to reflect enhanced waste mining during the next quarters and remains in alignment with the mine plan for the year. As of April 30, 2024, the leach pad expansion project is approximately 44% complete with air works and construction of the impulsion line at 33%, respectively. Procurement is 95% complete. Speaker 300:14:59Complementing current works, liner installation also commenced in April. The project is advancing on schedule, with operations expected to begin ore placement by the end of 2024. Lindero had a cash cost of $1,008 and an AISC of $16.34 per ounce of gold for the quarter. The costs reflect timing of sales as 1700 ounces of gold remained in inventory at the end of the period. In addition to timing of sales, the operation experienced higher cost for rental equipment and intensive CapEx execution related to the leach pad expansion project. Speaker 300:15:45On a general note, in country macroeconomic conditions have improved from what we saw in 2023 and have allowed Lindero to operate more efficiently as a result. In Mexico, at San Jose, unfortunately, we reported 2 LTIs during the quarter. Both incidents were related to employees working at Hyatt. We continue to proactively reinforce our leadership initiatives to improve safety performance throughout all of our operations. San Jose produced 759,111 ounces of silver at an average head grade of 147 grams per ton and 4,533 ounces of gold at an average head grade of 0.90 grams per ton of gold. Speaker 300:16:39The processing plant milled 181,103 tons of ore at an average throughput of 2,182 tons per day, in line with the plan for the period. The mine has less operational flexibility in 2024 when compared to 2023 due to the reduced and more dispersed mineral reserves in the Trinidad deposit. Production stopes in the upper levels contained lower head grades and a higher presence of ferrous oxide, which impacted recoveries by approximately 2% in the quarter. San Jose had a cash cost of $21.98 and an ASIC of 24.2 4 per silver equivalent ounce for the quarter. The increase is explained by the lower head grades, lower production and as 50% of our costs are peso denominated, also a stronger Mexican peso impact. Speaker 300:17:48The company continues preparations to execute a multiyear progressive mine closure and monetary plan, while conducting regular assessments on trade offs between maintaining operations and a care and maintenance option. As Jorge mentioned before, exploration work continues to advance in the Ghese vein. In Peru, the Caylloma mine produced 315,460 ounces of silver at an average head rate of 87 grams per tonne. Zinc and lead production was £12,200,000 £9,500,000 respectively. Metal production is in line with the mineral reserves estimates and production for the period. Speaker 300:18:33Underground development for the quarter was mainly focused on the lower levels of the Animas vein. Cash cost per silver equivalent for the quarter was $11.61 driven primarily by lower treatment and refining charges. The all in sustaining cash cost per ounce payable silver equivalent was $17.18 Speaker 200:18:56Back to you, Jorge. Yes, sir. Luis will now provide a review of the financial results. Thank you. So we have recorded net attributable income to Fortuna shareholders for the period of $26,500,000 or $0.09 per share compared to $10,900,000 and $0.04 per share in Q1 of 2023. Speaker 200:19:24Main driver for this 143% increase in net income was our contribution from the Seguela mine, which had its 1st full quarter of operations in Q3 of 2023. Seguela, as has been stressed, contributes low cost ounces, which helped lower consolidated cost per gold equivalent ounce sold from $9.16 in the prior period to $8.79 in Q1 of 2024. A few comments on the income statement. Depreciation in the quarter was $50,000,000 which includes close to $60,000,000 in depletion of the purchase price related to the acquisition of Roxul in 2021. On general and administration expenses, we recorded $18,200,000 And as shown in the breakdown, we provide line item in our MD and A. Speaker 200:20:25This was comprised of $7,500,000 of in country G and A at our mining operations, dollars 8,400,000 of corporate G and A and $2,200,000 of share based compensation. Our total general and administration expenses were $3,300,000 above the comparative period due to the added G and A from the Seguela mine and higher corporate G and A related to timing of expenses. On foreign exchange, we recorded a loss of $4,100,000 which is primarily related to cash balances held in West Africa in the context of 2.2 percent devaluation of the euro versus the U. S. Dollar and costs of foreign exchange trades associated to repatriations of funds from West Africa. Speaker 200:21:22On interest and finance costs, we recorded $6,200,000 in the quarter, of which $4,800,000 is interest expense, the balance being accretion of right of use liabilities and asset retirement obligations. The increase of $3,600,000 over 2023 is explained by $2,800,000,000 of interest capitalized in Q1 of the prior year as part of the Seguela construction and higher accretion charges related to Seguela in the current quarter. Moving on to our cash flow statement. Our net cash provided by operating activities was $48,900,000 after $35,300,000 of negative changes in working capital. A significant portion of this was related to timing of accounts payable. Speaker 200:22:21I do want to note, we have been experiencing challenges in the collection of VAT at our operations in Burkina Faso and anticipate this might continue to be a challenge moving forward. In the investing section of our cash flow statement, we recorded $41,300,000 under additions to property, plant and equipment, which includes $4,200,000 spent at the Diambasas project in Senegal. Over the next two quarters, we expect higher capital expenditure levels, mostly due to the progression of the leach pad expansion at Lindero. As a remainder as a reminder, sorry, 2024 is a heavy CapEx year at Lindero with a total budget including capitalized stripping of $64,000,000 comprising around 50% of our consolidated capital expenditure budget for 2024, excluding exploration activities. And moving on to the balance sheet. Speaker 200:23:27As Jorge has mentioned, we have been paying down debt aggressively with $40,000,000 paid in the quarter and $123,000,000 paid since the 1st full quarter of production at Siguela in Q3 of 2023. Thank you, and back to you, Hor. Operator, we can open the floor for questions. Operator00:23:57Thank you, sir. At this time, we will be conducting our question and answer Thank you. Our first question is coming from Adrienne Day with Adrian Day Asset Management. Your line is live. Speaker 400:24:37Yes, good afternoon everybody. I wanted to ask about San Jose, the closure. You're scheduled to close at the end of the year, but obviously you're spending money and having success at YETI. What will it require what is required for you to extend mining operations there? And when will a decision be made? Speaker 200:25:02Adrian, we will have a better idea of how the situation at San Jose will evolve. There are potentially different scenarios we are looking at right now. So one is, of course, based on exploration success, we can continue mining. It's not just exploration success, but also resources that could not get converted in late 2023 benefiting from higher prices as we reassess our mine plans, right? So there is one scenario where we just continue mining. Speaker 200:25:55There is a second scenario where we decide to play the mine on care and maintenance, while we continue with exploration at Yesi. And the last one is we exhaust reserves 2023 and make the decision to just go into sorry, in 2024 and roll into a progressive closure plan, right? The San Jose mine has a small footprint. We are currently updating our mine closure plans. And but we really will have a better idea of which of these three avenues or three options we have will take. Speaker 200:26:46And we need a bit more time. And we are you always have to be hopeful in this business, and we remain hopeful that YESE will provide opportunities, but that still needs to be proven. Yesi has been an exciting discovery at the San Jose mine, but it needs to graduate from an exciting discovery to an exciting resource reserve we can plug into mine plants, and we're not there yet. That's why we continue drilling aggressively. And discussed in the call, management is planning to extend a drift to the core of a high grade area to get closer to mineralization and a better handle on mineralization as well. Speaker 300:27:37Okay. Thank you. Thank you. That's helpful. Operator00:27:42Thank you. Our next question is coming from Don DeMarco with National Bank Financial. Your line is live. Speaker 600:27:52Thank you, operator. Good morning, Jorge and team. Maybe just continuing on the last caller's question, Jorge. I saw that there was a response filed in appeals court in February with the decision expected in 12 months. Could you add more color to this? Speaker 600:28:09And could this factor into any decision to extend the mine life at San Jose? Speaker 200:28:24With respect to the court ruling, as you know, we had a favorable court ruling on the first instance on the administrative court in Mexico that was appealed. We expect the appeal to be resolved by year end, late 2024, we feel even more stronger or stronger on our legal position based on the ruling that basically discarded all the nonsensical arguments that were presented in front of us. And we are right now not positive that we'll get this appeal will not progress, and that is the last recourse that Semarnad has against our permit right now. We are also cognizant that there is a government change coming in June. There are elections, and we are in dialogue with the 2 leading candidates and are hopeful that the investment climate in Mexico for mining will improve as an outcome of this coming election. Speaker 600:30:04Okay. Fair enough. And face value, you've got good drill results at Yassy. You've got a higher gold price. So both of those higher silver price, so both of those seem to be in your favor. Speaker 600:30:18If you do make a decision to go ahead, would it be kind of, oh, we'll extend it 1 more quarter at a time type thing? Or would you think, oh, we might extend it an entire year? I mean, what is your preliminary thoughts at this point on a potential extension? Speaker 200:30:33You see, I'll tell you how we're viewing this. As I said previously, yes, it has been an exciting discovery because it has very high grades or substantial width for mechanized mining. So but we still need to learn and define the type of volumes and tonnages that we have available there. Today, we have defined mineralization over a panel area that stretches for 3 50 meters by 4 50 meters. This is a mine that can take as much as 1,000,000 tons of ore Speaker 100:31:18a year. Speaker 200:31:21And at Yesi, doing napkin the work in the napkin, you currently probably are getting closer to EUR 500,000, right? So that's why it's relevant to step out. It's taken us a while to understand Jesi because it has a strike that's different to what we are used to at the San Jose mine. The strike of this vein is odd with respect to what we've been mining here for over a decade. So it took us a while to figure that one out. Speaker 200:32:02And now we're drilling for volume. And that's why I say that it's going to be probably into the Q3 when we have a better handle on how big this is and how meaningful it can be to 9 plants. Again, one thing is an exciting story and another one is a resource that you can build meaningfully into a mine But right now, we do not have something that can go meaningfully into a mine plan. We're working for that. Speaker 600:32:33Okay. Sounds good. So we'll look forward to that update maybe in Q3. Across the rest of your portfolio, we see in Cote D'ivoire, there's been some shortage of electricity due to the national grid out of your control. But is this you're looking at different options to work around this. Speaker 600:32:54Does this pose any risk to guidance or Q2 or Q3? Speaker 200:33:00Basically on the information we have at this time, our guidance is intact, right? So we are benefiting from having a mill that can do up to 25% higher throughput than what we budgeted for 2024. We're benefiting from the fact that, as David stated, the West African region in the first quarter has produced almost 7,000 ounces ahead of budget. And the problem that is the portion of the problem that is out of our control appears to be improving. 1 of the power generators that came out of line is back online. Speaker 200:33:59This was a freak situation where 2 unrelated power plants came out of line power generators came out of line at the same time. We are seeing one already back in line and the other one is expected to be back in July. So we right now do not see an impact to our 2nd quarter production. And but it's a situation that we monitor closely. Speaker 600:34:36Okay. And what was behind this electricity shortage? These two incidents that you speak of at the private power generation plants? And is there any read through here about the stability of power in Cote D'ivoire once these are fixed? Speaker 200:34:54We did a thorough assessment of the power availability, stability of the grid when making the construction decision for Seguela. And the assessment was that there was ample power generation capacity and the grid was stable. And then this accident happens, right? So we are sourcing a longer term solution for us, which is full backup for the entire operation. We expect we can have Speaker 500:35:30that those Speaker 200:35:33power generators, diesel generators on-site by July. So even if this problem drags on with the National Grid, we should be autonomous by July. So that's why we say that and that we can control. So we're bringing the problem into our hands rather than relying on something that's out of our control. Speaker 600:36:04Okay. Thanks for all that. Congratulations on again, strong start to the year and good luck with Q2. It's all for me. Speaker 200:36:10Thank you, Don. Thanks. Operator00:36:15Thank you. Our next question is coming from Eric Windmill with Scotiabank. Your line is live. Speaker 700:36:24Great. Thank you. Hi, Jorge and team. I appreciate you taking my question. On Argentina, we're actually seeing some positive headlines there after the election. Speaker 700:36:33Any comments about what you're seeing on the ground? And does this change your view in terms of deploying more CapEx within Argentina? Thanks. Speaker 200:36:44I think as Cesar pointed out, we're seeing positive signs all across. But I think there are 2 important things that we look at here, Eric, that I think the positive signs we're seeing are building up to 1, liberating exchange controls, FX controls. I think what we're seeing is a lot of positive steps from these governments towards that. And the second one that relates to this is country risk, right? Having lenders looking at Argentina as a place to where they will take collateral, right? Speaker 200:37:36They'll lend money to Argentina and Argentinian capital projects. We're seeing a lot of positive messages followed by positive actions. Country risk has come down from 2,400 points to around 1200. To give you a sense, the average for Latin America on country risk is around 400, right? So there's still a long way to go in terms of country risk perception. Speaker 200:38:08But it's trending in the right direction. We are hearing the right messages from government followed by the right actions. But with respect to our view on investment on new large capital projects, greenfields projects. I think we're still in a watch and see mode, yes. Speaker 700:38:34All right. Thank you. Appreciate that. That's helpful. Maybe just one more for me on the financial side. Speaker 700:38:40Obviously, you did see some working capital payments in the quarter. Any sort of view here in terms of an optimal level? Should we expect additional working capital payments throughout the balance of this year? Speaker 200:38:55Capital payments, you mean debt? Yes. I mean, we intend to continue using liquidity over the next few quarters to pay down bank debt. The pace at which we do it will be Speaker 300:39:15a function Speaker 200:39:15of what we decide to do with the convertible, which is due around October of this year and any other competing uses of cash. But overall, the pace we've seen so far is what we expect to maintain over the next few quarters. Speaker 700:39:39Okay, great. That's helpful. Appreciate that. I'll hop back in the queue. Cheers. Speaker 200:39:45Thank you. Thank you. Operator00:39:49Thank you. We have a question on the line from Tony Christ with Odyssey Investments. Your line is live. Speaker 800:40:11Thank you. Thank you for taking my question. I want to congratulate you, first of all, your team, for a great quarter. And we're looking forward to the future. I wanted to know any color you could give additional comments on your African mine and what your hopes are over the next year, realistic hopes for the mine? Speaker 800:40:41Is it at a level now that should be consistent this year? Are there chances it could increase? Any comment, any more color you could give on it? Thank you so much. And again, congratulations. Speaker 200:40:57Thank you, sir. With respect to our African operations, I can stress that we see short term opportunities at Seguela. As stated during the call, we are in a position to run or mill and mine at approximately 25% above the throughput rate that we budgeted in 2024. And that is an outcome of the good work done by the site team on debottlenecking and squeezing the lemon, if you will, on the facility and are equating mine plants to source for that rate. So that is low hanging fruit that we can capture throughout the year. Speaker 200:41:59Now a bit more longer term, we continue enjoying exploration success at Reguela. I cannot stress that enough as we are able to not only replace what we deplete but expand beyond that, we can also consider opportunities for further expansions. And at Yaramoko, in Burkina Faso, the team the mine is operating at a steady rate, but the team continues to capture opportunities on expansion of the resources. And as I said during the call, we continue to see opportunities on the fringes of the deposit on Zone 55 on the deeper portion of the mine. And as we extend our underground infrastructure or drift at the deep end of Zone 55. Speaker 200:42:59We continue to finding structure with grade, which leads us to think that we have an opportunity to continue ameliorating the rate of depletion at the mine and supporting the loan, right? So those are the big ones. And of course, the Ambasud in Senegal, which is a big lever for medium, long term growth in the company. We are exploring there. We have close to a 50,000 meter drill program budgeted that we are well advanced. Speaker 200:43:37We're advancing with engineering studies, environmental studies in parallel to the exploration. And if successful with the program this year, we believe we are in a position PEA also by year end, an updated preliminary economic assessment on the project by year end. Speaker 800:44:01Very good. Thank you. Continue the good work. Thank you. Speaker 200:44:06Thank you, sir. Operator00:44:10Thank you. As we have no further questions in queue at this time, I would like to hand it back to Mr. Carlos Baca for closing remarks. Speaker 100:44:20Thank you, Ali. If there are no further questions, I would like to thank everyone for listening to today's earnings call. Have a great day. Operator00:44:30Thank you. This concludes today's conference call, and you may disconnect your lines at this time. We thank you for your participation. Speaker 500:44:40Thank you, everyone.Read moreRemove AdsPowered by